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Solar Panels guarantee 5% return


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Been looking at this myself and I have still to find the catch. Obviously it only works for people in the right situation but if you are a homeowner, with a roof, got some cash sitting in a bank in GBP earning a few % interest then is it not a no brainer.

 

My initial reaction was that the Feed in tarrif (FIT) programme would be an obvious slash and burn in the October spending review, but it wasn't touched. It wasn't touched because its not paid for by the government, but by us all through our energy bills and is required to meet targets that we have agreed to.

 

The FIT payments and export payments for solar PV are tax free and go up annually with RPI, they are "guaranteed" for 25yrs but are tiered down so that the starting figures drop in 2012 and then drop again and again as I guess they assume the renewables market will be more mature and competitive as it grows, but this does mean that if you get in now before 2012 you can get the maximum starting payment (£0.41 /kwh generated whether you use it or not, this compares to approx £0.10/kwh that your supplier charges you to use it) plus an export payment of £0.03/kwh for the energy that you don't use. I think when people refer to the FIT being cut this is a cut in the starting rate which has been set out and won't effect you if you install before april 2012.

 

In the spirit of not keeping all my eggs in one basket I ran some hypothetical numbers on solar PV and I thought it looked very promising, yes I have heavily insulated my house already, yes I have DIY fitted solar thermal, yes I have some gold and yes I have some basic investments, but not being a natural trader this appeals as an insulation against future energy prices and a way of spending cash that was earning little on something that generates money and elec. Has anyone else looked into it in more detail and found the catch.

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It is a good idea to give a 5% return on solar panels but it is a better idea to just cut off the tax on environmental items like energy saving light bulbs, environment friendly detergent and the like. Because these items, unlike the solar panel which is often used by those who have their own house or the landlords, is used by more people in any level of the society.

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  • 1 month later...
In the spirit of not keeping all my eggs in one basket I ran some hypothetical numbers on solar PV and I thought it looked very promising, yes I have heavily insulated my house already, yes I have DIY fitted solar thermal, yes I have some gold and yes I have some basic investments, but not being a natural trader this appeals as an insulation against future energy prices and a way of spending cash that was earning little on something that generates money and elec. Has anyone else looked into it in more detail and found the catch.

 

Bump ........spent several hours with a solar company today. What amazed me most was my host claiming the near 25% drop in panel prices over the last 6 months! Apparently the German companies are driving down prices, as they look for a new market and the U.K is it!

 

The other snippet that I found interesting was despite an increased number of electrical contractor's getting involved, my host who is MCS acredited, claimed he wouldn't want to touch any private job, unless he could make at least £4k. Lost as to how to gauge that as he didn't really explain over what size of job. Just showed me lots of different manufacturer's panels in a swish showroom.

 

Underling if those costs keep coming down might just get round to knocking on your door :lol:

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  • 8 months later...

Nicholas Doyle, project developer at housing authority Places for People, predicts the FIT will be slashed.

 

‘I would put money on the FIT being cut,’ he said at a solar power conference on Monday. ‘I think it is going to be cut hard and I think it is going to be cut fast.’<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

 

 

Bump.

 

And as if by magic .............

 

http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/policy/i/4599/

 

UK Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker today confirmed that the government will slash feed-in tariffs (FITs) for solar power by more than half.

 

He said that the proposals to cut the tariff for solar installations up to 4 kW in size from 43.3p/kWh to 21p/kWh would keep the FIT scheme’s budget under control and put the industry on a firmer footing.

 

There will also be reduced tariffs for schemes of between 4 kWh and 250 kWh, while from April next year any property applying for a FIT will have to meet a minimum energy efficiency requirement.

 

“The plummeting costs of solar mean we’ve got no option but to act so that we stay within budget and not threaten the whole viability of the FITs scheme,” Barker said in a statement this morning. “Although I fully realise that adjusting to the new lower tariffs will be a big challenge for many firms, it won’t come as a surprise.”

 

 

Never saw that coming ........ :rolleyes:

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